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MORNING MINDMELD: President Obama won last night’s foreign-policy debate on substance, in snap polls and with the pundits, but Mitt Romney did well enough that for the first time in six years, Romney folks emailed, “We’re going to win.” His moderate, me-too rhetoric drew derision from the smart set: “Romney’s Final Debate Message: I’ll Be A Better Obama,” snarked Talking Points Memo. Obama took a risk with his snide derision – “very, very overtly patronizing terms,” as Rachel Maddow approvingly described his sarcastic riff defining submarines and aircraft carriers for Romney. What we don’t yet know is how all this played with independent, switchable women voters. Remember: You weren’t the target audience.

--A Playbooker imagines the opening of this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live”: Professor Obama is giving a lecture on the history of warfare: “The Greeks had very few guns … ”

FIRST LOOK: Faced with persistent calls for more detail about what a second term would look like, President Obama this morning will hold up a glossy, 20-page repackaging of the plans he has announced on subjects from energy to education: “The New Economic Patriotism: A PLAN FOR JOBS & MIDDLE-CLASS SECURITY.” Obama will unveil the booklet at a 10:10 a.m. event at Delray Tennis Center in Delray, Florida. The campaign says 3.5 million copies are being printed, with 1.5 million of those being sent to field offices.

Per a campaign official: “We’re launching a full-scale, multiplatform organizational effort that will include direct mail, advertisements, and distribution at field offices to ensure every voter knows what a second term of an Obama presidency would mean for middle class Americans. The President, Vice President, and all of our surrogates will hold up the plan at events and ask our massive grassroots network to do everything they can to share the plan with their family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others to reach every undecided voter in the remaining days of this election and ensure they understand the choice between continuing to move America forward and going back to the same policies that devastated our economy and punished the middle class.”

--A related 60-second ad goes up today in nine states: NH, VA, NC, FL, OH, IA, WI, NV, CO. A distilled version of the plan was available previously on the web at www.barackobama.com/plans.

OBAMA RELEASES HIS VERSION of “Morning in America,” a 60-second spot, “Determination,” airing in seven states -- Colo., Fla., N.H., N.C., Ohio, Va. and Wis.: “There’s just no quit in America, and you’re seeing that right now. Over 5 million new jobs. Exports up 41 percent. Home values -- rising. Our auto industry -- back. And our heroes -- are coming home. We're not there yet -- but we’ve made REAL progress, and the last thing we should do is turn back now.

“Here’s my plan for the next four years: Making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting American-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where we can, AND asking the wealthy to pay a little more. And ending the war in Afghanistan, so we can do some nation-building here at home. That’s the right path. So, read my plan. Compare it to Governor Romney’s, and decide which is better for you. It’s an HONOR to be your President. And I’m asking for your vote. So, together, we can keep moving America forward.” http://bit.ly/XOa6lw

OVER THE NEXT THREE DAYS, we’ll see the power of the Obama advance machine, as he hits seven states (two of them twice), starting in Florida this morning, then meeting up with Vice President Biden in Dayton this afternoon. POTUS comes home tonight, then tomorrow is off to Davenport to begin an “America Forward!” tour, which the campaign describes as “a two-day, around-the-clock campaign blitz.” He continued to Denver, then holds a late-night event in Las Vegas. He flies overnight to Tampa, then on to a tarmac event in Richmond. Then he goes home to Chicago to become the first sitting president to cast an early vote in person. Then it’s back to Ohio for an evening event in Cleveland. The campaign says: “As the President crisscrosses the nation, he will spend time on Air Force One calling undecided voters, rallying National Team Leaders and volunteers and continuously engaging with Americans across the country about the choice in this election.”

ROMNEY and PAUL RYAN appear together today in Henderson, Nev., and (with Kid Rock) at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Golden, Colo. Look for Romney in Ohio later this week.

NICOLLE WALLACE and RACHEL MADDOW are guests today on “Katie,” Katie Couric’s new syndicated show (airs in D.C. at 4 p.m. on ABC7). www.katiecouric.com

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN, to Norah O’Donnell, on “CBS This Morning”: “We knew this election was going to tighten up no matter who our opponent was. And it's totally appropriate to point out that Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan have moved their positions drastically. They probably haven't changed them internally. But they keep running away from the idea there's not a $5 trillion tax cut? I mean, these are things that they've been running on. This has been the staple of the new -- this Republican Party: massive cuts in domestic spending, significant increases in tax cuts for the wealthy, and now they're saying, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not who we are.’ I think it's totally legitimate to say, then, ‘Who are you? Who are you? What do you stand for?’”

JOE SCARBOROUGH, writing on POLITICO, “Mitt Romney wins debate season”: “Obama won on points last night. But that victory may not have been enough to undo the damage done to the president by this year's debate season. … [T]here is no question that Barack Obama outclassed Mr. Romney on the topic of foreign policy. The Republican nominee was nervous, his answers were formulaic and Romney seemed to be reciting scripts rather than debating foreign policy. That became even more evident when the tone shifted to domestic policy and the confidence Mitt Romney showed in Denver came shining through.

“Still, Romney did enough things right to keep the momentum going his way. The former Massachusetts governor's tone was nearly perfect and he abandoned the hard neoconservative line that had concerned more traditional conservatives like myself. Call it flip flopping if you like. I actually believe that realist approach fits Romney better and will be his governing philosophy if he ever becomes commander-in-chief. It's hard to imagine a man so driven by data being swept up in a Wilsonian worldview. … Obama showed superior knowledge to his challenger on almost every question raised involving foreign policy. But I found his tone, at times, to be jarring for a sitting commander in chief.” http://politi.co/X7e5Ko

--Mika Brzezinski, on “Morning Joe,” from Boca: “Mitt Romney got through it, but it looked painful at times. … The President took him down a notch a few times.”

--John Heilemann: “I actually thought that this was the best of Obama’s three debates.”

--Mark Halperin: “I don’t think there’s any doubt President Obama won IN THE ROOM.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA, in the debate's most memorable line: “Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets -- (laughter) -- because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of Battleship where we're counting ships. It's: What are our capabilities.” …

BOB SCHIEFFER, moderator: “What if the prime minister of Israel called you on the phone and said: ‘Our bombers are on the way. We're going to bomb Iran.’ What do you say?”

MITT ROMNEY: “Bob, let's not go into hypotheticals of that nature. Our relationship with Israel, my relationship with the prime minister of Israel is such that we would not get a call saying our bombers are on the way or their fighters are on the way. This is the kind of thing that would have been discussed and thoroughly evaluated well before that kind of action.”

** A message from NEI: ZERO. That’s the amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted from nuclear energy facilities. Our electricity needs are expected to grow 22% by 2035, advanced nuclear energy plants must be built to help meet this rising demand. Nuclear: Clean Air Energy. Visit http://NEI.org/cleanair to learn more. **

THE MAP -- “2012: The battle for 7 states,” by Jonathan Martin with James Hohmann, both in Boca Raton: “Top strategists for both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney flooded the media center following the third and final presidential debate here Monday night, and made clear they will be primarily fighting over seven states and will spend most of their time and money in them between now and November 6. The main battlegrounds: Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida and Wisconsin. The late inclusion of Wisconsin on this list reflects a bet by Romney—buoyed by some polls showing an opportunity for him there—that he can turn a state that has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1984.

“Romney officials … have not ruled out attempting to broaden the map in other states—claims met with disparagement by Obama aides, who say they remain confident their electoral college firewall is intact even amid a tightening national race and signs that three swing states in the south are looking more favorable for the GOP nominee. Republicans are genuinely intrigued by the prospect of a strike in Pennsylvania and, POLITICO has learned, are considering going up on TV there outside of the expensive Philadelphia market. But what Romney officials worry about, both in Pennsylvania and Michigan, is that if they put some cash down or use precious hours to send their candidate there Obama will respond by crushing their offensive with a big ad buy of his own. … [But] increasingly, [Boston is] narrowing their focus as their prospects improve in North Carolina, Florida and Virginia.” http://politi.co/OYBL1J

PLAYBOOK FACTS OF LIFE – A top Romney source narrows the map to five: “Ohio is still leaning Obama. Wisconsin still leaning R due to [Gov. Scott] Walker turnout operation. Iowa is a mystery. Nevada leans O and NH leans R.”

POLL DU JOUR – Day 1 of ABC-WP tracking poll: “The result, as in previous ABC News/Washington Post polls since late summer, is essentially a dead heat between the candidates overall. In the first of what will be daily ABC/Post tracking polls for the rest of the contest, 49 percent of likely voters back Obama, 48 percent Romney.” 14-page PDFhttp://bit.ly/X6JzQW

FISCAL CLIFF NOTES – Financial Times, p. 1 above fold, “GE acts to counteract fears over ‘fiscal cliff,’” by Ed Crooks and Vivianne Rodrigues in New York: “General Electric, the US industrial group, said it had refinanced $5bn of bonds reaching maturity early next year to avoid any market turbulence ahead of a possible looming ‘fiscal cliff’ of tax rises and spending cuts. Keith Sherin, GE’s chief financial officer, said the company had been strengthening its balance sheet to prepare for the risk of ‘choppy’ conditions early next year if automatic tax increases and sharply lower spending come into effect as a result of the failure of Congress to agree on a budget deal. … GE’s moves in the debt market are closely watched by other companies, bankers say, and its effort to strengthen its liquidity is likely to be followed.”

PALACE INTRIGUE – “Nancy Pelosi move fuels speculation over her future,” by Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Anna Palmer: “By delaying House Democratic leadership elections until after Thanksgiving, she’s spurred speculation about whether she is going to stay atop the caucus. … Pelosi aides insist the leadership pushed back the internal elections because rank-and-file lawmakers were overwhelmed by three candidates running for vice chair of the Democratic Caucus — the lowest leadership spot. But Democratic insiders say Pelosi’s move means one of two things: She’s getting out of leadership and wants to give someone else a chance to organize a movement against Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the long-time number two; or she’s simply buying time to consider her future if Democrats fall short of the majority. … Pelosi has stated that she won’t retire no matter what happens on Nov. 6. Neither Pelosi nor her aides will comment on whether she’ll stay in leadership. …

“[S]ome Democratic insiders see the potential for a December vote for the party’s leadership as aimed at Hoyer. Additional time between Election Day and leadership elections could give Pelosi time to run someone against Hoyer — in essence, attempt to hand-pick her successor. … Pelosi defeated Hoyer in a sometimes bitter 2002 leadership race, and she has maintained an iron grip on the Democratic Caucus ever since. …

“Democratic insiders say Pelosi has grown more pessimistic about the party’s [House] prospects, slowly coming to the realization that the upper range of Democratic gains is now roughly 10 seats or less [of 25 needed] … Several operatives familiar with the vice-chair race also insist there were no flurry of calls by the three candidates — Reps. Joe Crowley (N.Y.), Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Jared Polis (Colo.) — and they were unaware of any complaints from candidates that the lobbying was too intense. To them, the decision by Pelosi to postpone any leadership elections was unrelated.” http://politi.co/X6zEee

SENATE SCRAMBLE – Boston Globe p. 1 below fold, “Senate foes hone tactics as race enters stretch run: Seek to rally base, lure independents in final two weeks,” by Noah Bierman: “Elizabeth Warren has sharpened her emphasis on the national stakes of her campaign, arguing that the election is essential to determining which party controls the Senate. It is a simple and direct appeal, intended to court Democratic leaning voters who pay little attention to politics but are expected to cast ballots for President Obama and therefore may want a Senate that backs his policies. Brown is closing with a promise to work across the aisle, calling himself one of the last of a dying breed of moderates who can break the gridlock … Brown’s message capitalizes on evidence in polls that voters are deeply frustrated with partisanship.

“The pitches, highlighted in ads released in recent days and in speeches on the trail, are not departures for either candidate, though the heightened emphasis reflects the different challenges the candidates face in the last 14 days. Warren, a Democrat, needs to hold on to core members of her party, while winning over those Democratic leaners who only come out every four years to vote for president. Brown, a Republican, needs to cobble together a more disparate coalition.”

HOT HOUSE RACES – USA Today 1A Cover Story, “5 trends that will shape control of the House: EXPERTS EXPECT CHAMBER TO STAY IN GOP HANDS,” by Susan Davis: “[T]he nation's top election forecasters are decisively pessimistic about Democrats' chances of gaining the 25 seats they need to take control of the chamber. The Cook Political Report projects a zero- to 10-seat range for Democratic gains. The Rothenberg Political Report projects a four- to 10-seat gain, and the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato projects a seven-seat Democratic gain. On the heels of three consecutive wave election cycles in 2006, 2008 and 2010 — when a net of at least 20 House seats changed partisan hands — 2012 appears to be shaping up to be more of a status quo year. Shy of a national wave, seat changes in the U.S. House historically stay in the single digits.” http://usat.ly/PNUlv1

--L.A. Times, second front, “Stark election test: California’s longest-serving member of Congress has a tough fight in a new district,” by Richard Simon: “Rep. Pete Stark, dean of California's congressional delegation, arrived in the House when Richard Nixon occupied the White House and John McCain was in a POW camp. Now, at age 80, Stark, one of Congress' most liberal and outspoken Democrats, faces perhaps the toughest campaign since he was first elected 40 years ago. Eric Swalwell, his aggressive 31-year-old challenger in a new East San Francisco Bay district, is taking a page out of the playbook Stark used in 1972 to oust fellow Democrat George P. Miller, the then 81-year-old dean of the California delegation: It's time for change. … The race is another of those new clashes growing out of voter-approved changes to California's political system … the political map drawn by an independent citizens commission that put Stark in a district that is about 50% new and a bit less liberal, and the state's new top-two primary system that set up the Democrat-versus-Democrat clash.” http://lat.ms/T824ii

McGOVERN MEMORY – Jules Witcover: “[W]hen the story of [Thomas] Eagleton's shock treatments for mental illness broke, I was at [Sen. McGovern’s] summer vacation site in Custer, S.D., for the L.A. Times … [H]e sent for me to come to his cabin, ostensibly to discuss the vice presidency, since I had talked to him sometime earlier on the general subject. He told me he had concluded that Eagleton had to get off the ticket … [U]nspoken was the fact that Eagleton, about to return from his own vacation in Hawaii, would be arriving shortly back to California and probably would see my story in the Times. A few days later, with no movement by Eagleton, flying back from Custer on the campaign plane, McGovern came back the press section with a forlorn look on his face. He sat down next to me, and I said to him: ‘I guess Tom didn't get the message.’ He agreed, but before he could elaborate much, boom mikes and tape recorders were thrust over our shoulders from other reporters and that ended the conversation.” (hat tip: JMart)

TECHWATCH – “iPad mini” (actual name unknown) expected to be unveiled at 1 p.m. ET in San Jose – AFP’s Glenn Chapman in S.F.: “Apple on Tuesday is expected to pull back the curtain on a ‘mini’ version of its iPad to battle Amazon and Google in the hot, crowded arena of tablet computers with smaller screens. … Invitations bore only time and location details along with the message ‘We've got a little more to show you.’ However, rampant rumor fueled by industry insiders foretells the arrival of an "iPad Mini" priced from $249 to $399. … Apple set the tablet computer market ablaze with the first iPad in early 2010 and stuck with its 9.7-inch (24.6-centimeter) screen while rivals introduced lower-price tablets with screens closer to seven-inches (18 centimeters).

“Amazon's seven-inch Kindle Fire proved popular last year, and a new version was launched last month. Meanwhile, a Google Nexus 7 powered by Android software joined the Samsung Galaxy in the seven-inch tablet market. With Kindle and Nexus tablets starting at $199, Apple will be forced to keep its price low for its new model and ‘will not have its normal profit margin,’ said Roger Kay, a consultant and analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates. Some blogs say Google may come out with a tablet as low as $99.”

MEDIAWATCH – JIM KELLY, managing editor of TIME from 2001 to 2006, in Vanity Fair, “The ‘Shock’ of the News Magazine Death: Tina Brown, Robert Hughes, and the Dwindling Cult of Authority”: “On the day that Barry Diller and Tina Brown announced the death of Newsweek the print magazine, a memorial service for Bob Hughes took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Hughes, who died this summer at age 74, was for more than 30 years the art critic of Time, and as the garlands of obituaries attested, he came to be regarded as the finest art critic of his generation. Brown, it turned out, was one of the eulogists for Hughes at the Met, and one could not help but feel that more than just Hughes's passing was worth being noted. … Where did this kind of reader go? You know part of the answer, since you are reading this on the Web. The voice of an Authority got displaced by the recommendations and likes of your Friends … I’d argue that the decline of the well-paid, medium-skilled job and the diminishing fortunes of the middle class also took its toll; it is hard to care about what makes Goya great if you are reduced to eating Goya beans five times a week.

“Three decades ago, studies of Time readers showed many cited that their primary reason for subscribing was to make them feel less anxious at social events; armed with facts and opinions, these readers could talk with confidence about something other than the weather. It would be too glib to say that nowadays that anxious partygoer has Xanax to rely on, but it is painfully true that not only do facts and opinions rain down on us from everywhere, but, depending on your political leanings, you can pick the facts you like from the news outlets that agree with you. Suddenly, talking about the weather while clinking ice cubes doesn’t seem so bad. It would be untrue, by the way, to say that the reader has become less sophisticated. In fact, the subscriber may have grown inured to the classic magazine trick of the provocative cover that oversells what is inside.” http://vnty.fr/RhVNma

SPORTS BLINK – “World Series Lookahead,” by AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker: “Way back in spring training, Hunter Pence hit a wicked grounder that smacked Miguel Cabrera in the face. A few months later, Pablo Sandoval launched a bases-loaded triple off Justin Verlander in the All-Star game. Here they all are again, with everything at stake. Tigers-Giants in the World Series. A driven team from Detroit, loaded with power bats and arms, guided by wily Jim Leyland and coming off an impressive sweep. A surging squad from San Francisco, boosted by its rotation and talented catcher Buster Posey, fresh from a [9-0] Game 7 win [last night] over defending champion St. Louis. A Triple Crown winner in Cabrera versus a perfect-game pitcher in Matt Cain. The Motor City vs. the City by the Bay, starting with Game 1 on Wednesday in the California twilight. …

“Verlander will throw the first pitch for the Tigers. [Giants manager Bruce] Bochy said he hasn't looked that far in advance. It's certainly a unique pairing. Both franchises have been around for well over a century and are stacked with Hall of Famers -- Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, Carl Hubbell, Al Kaline and many more -- yet they've never faced each other in the postseason. Not too much recent history, either. The clubs have played only 12 games since interleague action began in 1997, most recently last year at Comerica Park. That series was notable because the Tigers fired pitching coach Rick Knapp following the final game, a day after Barry Zito and the Giants trounced Max Scherzer in a 15-3 romp.”

** A message from NEI: ZERO. That’s the amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted from nuclear energy facilities while producing power. We need to develop all sources of low-carbon electricity, and nuclear energy is chief among them. Nuclear energy produces electricity for one out of every five homes and businesses, and accounts for nearly two-thirds of our nation’s greenhouse gas-free electricity production. With our electricity needs expected to grow 22% by 2035, advanced nuclear energy plants must be built to help meet this rising demand. Nuclear: Clean Air Energy. Visit http://NEI.org/cleanair to learn more. **

Readers' Comments (1)

Ohhh...to be in that debate! I'd have pulled out dollar and said, "Mr President.....this is a dollar. It's not a question of how many you have. It's a question of what it can buy...and it can buy a lot less now than it could 4 years ago."